Iranian FM Raps West’s Double-Standard Policies on Bahrain, Syria

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi blasted the western states’ double-standard policies on different developments in the region, saying that while the West supports Bahrain’s dictatorial regime, it equips terrorists with weapons in Syria.

Salehi said on Wednesday that other examples of the western double-standards are their approach to developments in Syria and Bahrain.

“The western governments turn a blind eye to peaceful demonstrations of the people in Bahrain,” he added.

Earlier, a senior Bahraini opposition leader had also lashed out at Washington’s double-standard policy and approach towards developments in the region, specially in Bahrain and Syria.

Speaking to FNA in January, Spokesman of Bahrain’s February 14 Revolution Abdul Raouf al-Shayeb said that the US holds a hostile stance on the Bahraini revolution and has given the Al Khalifa regime the green light for using different tactics and criminal acts to confront people and allowed Saudi Arabia to dispatch its forces to help Manama suppress protesters.

He pointed to the US support for anti-government armed groups in Syria, and added, “Washington is exercising a double-standard attitude towards Arab revolutions, on one hand it condemns the popular revolution in Bahrain and on the other hand it supports the Syrian opposition and supplies arms to them and also asks Saudi Arabia to help the Al Khalifa massacre and suppress the people by dispatching its forces.”

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

So far, tens of people have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and more than 1,000 others have been injured.

Syria has also been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of stirring unrests in Syria once again.

The US and its western and regional allies have long sought to topple Bashar al-Assad and his ruling system. Media reports said that the Syrian rebels and terrorist groups have received significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, a crime paid for by the Persian Gulf Arab states and coordinated by the United State.